Villar’s play catches eye of fellow shortstop Reyes

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TORONTO – Jose Altuve and Jonathan Villar are dreaming of Gold Gloves. They talked about the possibility of winning them Tuesday, if just briefly – a sign of confidence the Astros middle infielders have in one another and a sign of optimism.

“Altuve, he told me, we’re making this year (a) Gold Glove (year),” said Villar, the 22-year-old shortstop from the Dominican Republic.

Altuve, the 23-year-old Venezuelan second baseman, was expected to be reliable going into the year. Villar was more of an X factor – a kid with all the tools but maturity questions to go along with them. Both have been solid early on.

“I made a comment to him, the way he’s been playing, moving the feet, catching the ball, throwing the ball – he’s really focused right now,” Altuve said. “So I just made a comment – ‘Hey, you keep playing like that, you might win a Gold Glove.’ For me, when he’s like that … putting it all together, I think he’s one of the best shortstops in baseball.”

Despite third baseman Matt Dominguez’s error in Wednesday’s 7-3 loss to the Blue Jays, the Astros entered Thursday’s game with only four fielding miscues for the season. Astros pitchers rank sixth in the majors in ground-ball rate (51 percent), so infield defense is important to them.

Playing in the Dominican league the last two winters, Villar had the gold standard of switch-hitting shortstops – Toronto’s Jose Reyes – watching him. They don’t live too far from each other, Reyes said, although they are not exactly next-door neighbors, either.

When Reyes, now 30, came to the majors, it was a day before his 20th birthday. Playing for the Mets in New York, he grew up quickly.

“It is hard (to find maturity while young),” Reyes said. “I had a lot of veteran guys around me. So that was a little bit easier for me to understand. Playing in New York, too, it’s a little bit different. You have to understand what’s going on there. (Villar) is a good guy; he listens to people. That’s good. When he’s young, and you listen to a lot of advice, that’s good.”

Reyes had some advice for Villar as well.

“We both kind of play a similar game,” Reyes said. “I told him, just, ‘You have speed. Just try to put the ball in play. When you put the ball in play, when you have speed, something is always going to happen. Don’t worry about hitting the ball in the air, hitting home runs, stuff like that. That’s going to come.’ ”

Reyes, signed to a six-year, $106 million deal, is entering his 12th season in the majors. The Astros didn’t get to see him during this series because he was injured in the first game of the season.

Reyes is a lifetime .292 hitter who has stolen as many as 78 bases in a season while also reaching double-digit home-run totals. When Villar was asked if he hoped for a career similar to Reyes’, his eyes lit up.